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Written by

Lisa Peterson, for the Sioux Falls Business Journal

Erin Nelson, co-owner of Irish Twins Soap, works on a batch of lavender-scented soap at her home in Beresford. / Joe Ahlquist / Argus Leader

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From her farmhouse in Beresford, stay-at-home mom turned entrepreneur Erin Nelson watches the sunrise while she makes soap, a career she crafted after starting to make it for herself four years ago.

“I bought a soap mold off of Craigslist and started making soap in my home,” Nelson said. “At the time, I worked for a health care company, but when my boss died of cancer, I was out of a job.”

Nelson decided to start making soap full time and has never looked back.

“I just took the leap and did it,” she said. “I started giving it away to family and friends, and they told others about me, and it grew from there.”

That’s how Irish Twins Soap Co. got its start in 2009. Customers would meet Nelson or stop by her home to pick out their products. Today, she sells her products in southeast South Dakota grocery stores, regional craft shows and online.

“I send my soap all over the country,” Nelson said.

The company, which also makes natural personal care products, is owned by Nelson and her so-called Irish twin sister, Dawn Schwandt of Rapid City.

“Irish twins are siblings born less than 12 months apart,” Nelson said. “We’re 11 months apart, so Irish Twins was a fitting name.”

The purpose of soap has stayed the same throughout the centuries – to keep people clean and leave them feeling fresh and healthy. Many of the soap options available today, however, are full of preservatives, artificial perfumes and unidentifiable ingredients that can be harsh on sensitive skin or even cause allergic reactions, Nelson said.

“I don’t ever use anything artificial,” she said. “There is a temptation to make a beautiful soap that smells like lilac, but that’s an artificial fragrance, so I don’t do it.”

Her soaps are mostly vegan and made out of plants, fruits and natural essential oils and fragrance oils.

“I’m super passionate and fussy about what I put in my soaps,” Nelson said.

She buys local when she can and gets goat milk from a local farmer. A Beresford beekeeper supplies her with the beeswax and honey she needs to make soap, sugar scrubs and lip balm.

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Recently, her company was a nominee in the Martha Stewart American Made contest where 10 winners were chosen by the editors of Martha Stewart Living.

“I didn’t win, but I was very thankful to be recognized,” she said.

Nelson gets her scent ideas mostly from experimenting. Her Heart of Ireland soap is made with Guinness beer, Irish oatmeal and a blend of essential oils.

“It’s just a matter of experimenting, and most of my soaps are blends,” she said. “I start out saying I want to have this kind of fragrance and then I start experimenting.”

Nelson has a new soap-on-a-rope for men called Lumberjack Swag, a blend of bergamot, bay rum, cedar wood, geranium and black pepper. Her new favorite is Metamorphic Rockstar, which has green and red clay, and activated charcoal.

“It kind of looks like marble,” she said. “It’s scented with spearmint and eucalyptus, and it is heaven.”

Nelson admits her experiments sometimes go awry. When that happens, she can either try adding other ingredients or throw the batch away.

There are 35 soaps in her line divided into specialty and rustic soaps, which include bars for conditioning, exfoliation and moisturizing. Among Irish Twins’ top sellers are Dead Sea Mud priced at $7 a bar and Honey Almond at $5.95 a bar. She also makes seasonal soaps such as Pumpkin Spice.

Because soaps require fat and lye solution as ingredients, Nelson had to research the properties of animal fat and find plant-based alternatives. Her handmade bars use the oils of olive, coconut, sweet almond, castor and sunflower, and butters such as Shea and cocoa.

There are 250,000 handcrafted soap makers in the U.S., according to Lani Duke, executive assistant at the Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild.

“The natural soap market has grown to the point where more and more retailers are trying to take advantage of this growth and get their share of this lucrative market,” Duke said.

In Sioux Falls, Pomegranate Market carries the soap.

“We prefer to carry local products, and her soap is high-quality, all-natural, luxurious soap we really like, and she has some bath salts that sell very well for us,” said Kelsey Butler, natural health and beauty manager.

Nelson’s next step involves looking for a place to expand.

“It’s taking over our house, and my husband would like to join me full time.”

She said she loves the flexibility of her business and the customers she has met.

“They are just lovely. They tell me my soaps have helped them, and that’s a huge deal for me, and it is super rewarding.”